Vegan Gingerbread Muffins (Easy, Healthy, & No Oil)

Name: Vegan Gingerbread Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 28 min
Ingredients: 2 cups Flour; ¼ cup Brown Sugar; 2 teaspoons Baking Powder; 1 teaspoon Baking Soda; 2 teaspoons Ginger; 1 teaspoon Cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon Cloves; ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg; Pinch of Salt; ½ cup Molasses; ⅓ cup Applesauce; ⅓ cup Soy Milk; ¼ cup Maple Syrup; 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract; 1 cup Powdered Sugar; 1-2 tablespoons Almond Milk; 1 teaspoon Vanilla

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These easy to make vegan gingerbread muffins are the perfect warmly spiced muffins to make during the holiday season!

They got a thumbs up from all of my kids, especially with icing added on top!

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So, go ahead and give them a try, and find your new favorite holiday muffin below.

Vegan Gingerbread Muffin on a white plate being iced with a spoon with icing dripping right above it.

Unfortunately, I haven’t developed a lot of recipes using molasses or in the ‘gingerbread’ niche, but I’m hoping to change that as I know how great it is to have molasses in your diet as it’s high in iron.

Awhile ago I was obsessed with finding foods high in iron (like molasses and beets) because with my third child I was anemic during pregnancy.

I also remember as a kid whenever I or one of my siblings went to the doctors and one of us was low in iron, the nurses would always tell my mom to make molasses cookies for us.

Ingredients Needed for Oil-Free Vegan Gingerbread Muffins

Vegan Gingerbread Muffins ingredients laid out on a marble countertop.

All Purpose Flour: All purpose flour is the only flour that I have tested so far with this recipe. I don’t think oat flour would work as well because it’s not usually as fine.

Brown Sugar: Brown sugar works well in this recipe because it already has that slight molasses flavor. If you don’t have brown sugar, white sugar would also work.

Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These two ingredients are needed to help the muffins rise. If you are not an experienced baker who is capable of messing around with baked good recipes and being successful with the outcome, please don’t mess around with the amount of these needed.

Spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg): These warm spices are what makes it taste so seasonal and festive! Feel free to use other warm spices, or a pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice blend. Just know that nutmeg and cloves are very strong spices, so be careful if you’re adding more than recommended.

Salt: The salt in this recipe can be omitted, it does help bring out more sweetness in these muffins.

Molasses: Molasses is the star of the show in these muffins – between this and the ginger, that is what gives gingerbread recipes the gingerbread flavor! I usually use black strap molasses, the kind I currently have is from Sprouts Market.

Applesauce: Applesauce replaces the need for oil in this recipe. If you don’t mind oil in your muffins, feel free to replace the applesauce with a neutral oil, such as vegetable oil.

Using applesauce does make the muffins stick slightly to paper muffin liners. So I do recommend using silicone baking cups OR spray the muffin liners with a cooking spray if using applesauce.

Soy Milk: Use whichever non-dairy milk you like for these muffins. If making the icing, I like using almond milk for the icing as it has a better flavor and color.

Maple Syrup: This helps sweeten the muffins, without adding more refined sugar.

Vanilla Extract: This helps enhance the flavor of the muffins, it can be omitted.

How to Make Healthy Gingerbread Muffins

*Note that these instructions can be printed below

Step one: Preheat the oven 400℉ and line your muffin tin with liners.

Vegan Gingerbread Muffin dry ingredients in a bowl in the first image of this collage, the second image shows the dry mixed and the wet added.

Step two: Whisk together all of the dry ingredients until well combined and no clumps.

Step three: Add all of the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until you see no more dry ingredients.

Bowl of Vegan Gingerbread Muffin batter.

Step four: Add about ¼ cup of batter to each muffin liner in the tin (about ⅔ – ¾ of the way up the liner) and bake for 16-18 minutes.

Vegan Gingerbread Muffins in a muffin tin before and after baked. This is a collage of Vegan Gingerbread Muffins process.

Step five: Optional – make the icing by stirring together all icing ingredients.

Step six: Allow to cool slightly, ice if desired, and enjoy!

Vegan Gingerbread Muffins in a tin, overhead view, with a bowl of icing at the top, and the corner of a cooling rack with more muffins peeking in.

Tips for Making Soft, Moist, and Fluffy Muffins

Kids LOVE muffins! They are easy for them to eat, are like individually packaged foods (but made from ingredients you know and made with love), so they feel more special, as a single muffin is JUST for them.

I have 3 kids….I have made A LOT of muffins over the past 11 years (oh my goodness, I’m going to have an actual teenager soon, wish me luck!).

So, here are my tips to ensure these muffins turn out the best they possibly can:

Be sure not to overmix the batter – that will make the muffins firm and chewy, not soft and fluffy. To help ensure you don’t overmix, be sure to whisk
Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into your muffin tin – this is something I started doing in the past couple of years, and it helps prevent a mess!
Be sure to use room temperature ingredients.
Let your kids help! They’re not going to want to help you in the kitchen forever, and the more you push them out of the kitchen, the less they’ll try to help. You’ll miss that help when YOU finally think they’re old enough to, and they no longer want to.

A bite taken out of a Vegan Gingerbread Muffin that was already iced.

Serving Suggestions

These are best served with a simple vanilla icing and coffee (or some simple vegan hot cocoa for kids)!

How to Store These Muffins

Room Temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. They will get moister the longer they are saved.

Fridge: I do not recommend storing these in the fridge

Freezer: Freeze on a cookie sheet before storing in a freezer safe bag or container for 1-3 months. Reheat in the microwave in 15-30 second increments.

Gingerbread Muffin FAQ’s

How will I know when these muffins are done?

The best way to know these muffins are done is by checking with a toothpick. Stick a toothpick in the largest muffin in the middle and if it comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs, then the muffins are done, if it comes out with the batter on it then give them another couple of minutes in the oven.

What is the best way to store these muffins?

The best way to save these muffins is in an airtight container at room temperature! They should last 3-4 days.

The batter feels fluffy, is that normal?

Yes! The batter to these muffins may feel ‘fluffier’, or like it has more air in it, than other muffin batters, this is perfectly fine.

How do these muffins taste?

These gingerbread muffins taste almost like a gingerbread cookie, but softer and fluffier.